Leisure-Time Sport among Physical Education Students: A Time Trend Analysis of Sport Participation Styles

Abstract

The aim of this study is to uncover a time trend analysis of styles in active sport participation. Basic styles of sport participation are selected and compared from a time trend perspective, covering a 27-year period. The data were collected via questionnaire from different samples of male and female first-year university students in physical education. Sport participation data from 1972 (males only), 1976 (females)/1977 (males), 1982, 1988/93 and 1998/99 are considered and compared. Principal components analysis was used to explore basic dimensions of sport participation at each time interval. The 1972–82 style analysis of the males’ sport participation resulted in a triptych of styles consisting of competitive/traditional, local recreational, and conspicuous recreational sport activities. For the girls, the 1976–82 period yielded a competitive/traditional versus an ostentatiously recreational style pattern. Between 1982 and 1999 active sport participation as a leisure activity did not basically further diverge into different styles of participation. Rather, participation in the different modes of sport participation seems to have intensified. The results are interpreted in a broader approach of style analysis in leisure research and from the perspective of societal changes with regard to sports. It is concluded that style analysis may offer a valuable contribution to research on active sport participation.